Degassing a liquid using a membrane contactor is known. See: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,790,262, 6,558,450, 6,503,225, 6,402,818, 6,267,926, 6,616,841, 5,695,545, 5,352,361, 5,284,584, 5,264,171, and 5,186,832; U.S. Patent Publications Nos. 20050194305, 20050218064, and 20060081524; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/043,351 filed Jan. 26, 2006 and Ser. No. 11/447,188 filed Jun. 5, 2005.
However, degassing a liquid where the liquid is gravity-fed to the contactor is not known. Typically, the liquid is pumped to the contactor.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,503,225, intravenous fluid is de-bubbled by use of a lumen-side liquid flow contactor where the intravenous fluid is gravity fed to the contactor.
There is a need for an apparatus and a method for degassing a liquid where the liquid is gravity-fed to the membrane contactor.